


Heroes

by alirose_x



Series: Project E [2]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Canon-Typical Violence, Extremis Tony Stark, Inspired by Music, M/M, Not Steve Friendly, Thanos doesnt exist in this universe, Will add tags as I go, forever team Iron Man, not rogues friendly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-02-26 12:43:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18717331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alirose_x/pseuds/alirose_x
Summary: This takes place after Weightless and we see the result of what happened in the previous one. This makes sense without reading Weightless but I would recommend reading that one first.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Inspo for this story is Heroes - All Time Low

When I broke Steve’s jaw, I hoped it would all be water under the bridge like it was when he broke my ribs in Siberia. Except my luck never worked that well which is why I currently had Fury standing in front of me and he refused to budge until I listened to him.

“How did you even get in here?” I asked, “didn’t I revoke your access?”

“Yes, you did and yet here I am.” He shrugged. 

“What do you want?”

“You broke Steve’s jaw.” Fury said it as a statement, so I just stared at him blankly. It was years in front of the press that allowed me to hide the smile that wanted to slip past my mask. A manic laugh would definitely be too much, but God I just wanted to laugh. “You need to apologise.”

“HA!” I barked, “why in the ever-loving fuck would I do that?”

“Because it will make working with him difficult.”

“And again, I ask, why in the ever-loving fuck would I do that?” I asked, my humour quickly evaporating as I brought my arms to cross in front of me. 

“We need you. You’re an Avenger and we still have threats that require your assistance – especially now.” Fury said while looking me up and down.

As I let his words filter in something quickly became abundantly clear as to why he was here. This wasn’t about me as a person, it never was with these people. Fury still didn’t think I was a good teammate and he never would. He only cared about the abilities I now had thanks to Project E. My new abilities and my bank account were the only things he could see out of his eye. He wanted another weapon in his arsenal. 

“Let me get this straight.” I said. “You didn’t even want me in your little boy band originally but now you’ve heard I have Extremis in me, you suddenly want me. I bet you just want the formula, tell me I’m wrong.” 

Fury paused as he seemed to be thinking of something to say. “It could turn the tides of this war-”

“I’m going to stop you there. You lot never learn. Look at what happened when you thought it would be a good idea to hold onto the Tesseract.” I told him. “You’re too late. The formula was destroyed.”

“What?! Why would you do that?” He demanded while taking a half step towards me.

“To stop people like you.” I shrugged. “I’m bored now so see yourself out” I told him while turning and walking towards the elevator. 

“We still need you” Fury shouted after me.

“Oh I know, and when the call comes I will answer because contrary to what you all think, I actually care about the lives of the innocent people on this Earth. Just know that Rogers may be their Captain, but he will never be mine.”

“What does that mean?”

I waited until I was in the elevator before answering, “it means, he has no control over my actions. I do what I want.” Saying those freeing words felt good as I allowed myself to appreciate what they really meant. I was finally strong enough physically to never let Rogers push me around again. I never had to do anything that anyone told me to do again. I had freedom.

The closing doors stopped him from answering and I waited to be carried up to the penthouse. As the doors opened, I saw that the sun was bathing the whole living area in a golden light. Scanning my eyes over the room I spotted Bucky lying down on the sofa facing the elevator. From the rise and fall of his chest, he seemed to be asleep. Like a cat I silently slinked over to him and kneeled near his head. 

Watching Bucky sleep was one of my favourite past-times because he never looked as peaceful as when he was sleeping. All the guilt and worry that usually etched his face evaporated the second he allowed himself to rest. He looked younger like this and like any regular twenty-something year old. A pang of sympathy went through me as I thought about everything that was taken from him. He never had the chance to be a normal good-looking young man. He should have the world at his feet. I could only imagine how hard it must have been growing up with the Great Depression and then fighting for your country only to be captured by Hydra and turned into their weapon. 

I could feel myself spiralling, going down a path I really shouldn’t be going down, but I couldn’t help it. Bucky deserved freedom, he deserved a chance to be normal and with someone who was good for him. Someone who wasn’t me. I was a constant reminder of his old life, a casualty of the war he fought for 70 years and was only just starting to win. I thought having Extremis would change how I felt, it would make me feel worthy of him. It didn’t though. It made me feel stronger when it came to the Rogues but not Bucky. Maybe he would always be my Achilles. 

I once told Rogers that everything special about him came out of a bottle, but didn’t that now apply to me? Extremis made me better than those traitors and I would forever be grateful for that, but it didn’t put me in the same league as Bucky. He was forced to do what he did, no one forced me to make those weapons. 

“Stop staring at me.” Bucky suddenly huffed with his eyes still closed while burrowing further into the sofa. 

“Who said I was staring?” I asked with a smile.

“My spy senses told me.”

“So, your spy senses told you it was me and not a killer?” I asked as one of my eyebrows raised in question.

“Nah, don’t need them for that. I always know when you’re near me.” He replied quietly, he opened his eyes and smiled before pulling me down for a quick kiss. “Plus, FRI told me you were coming up” he grinned when we pulled apart.

I laughed at his honesty and gave him another kiss before standing up again. 

“What’s up? You have that face” Bucky asked.

“What face?”

“The ‘I’m having an internal battle but don’t want to tell anyone because I don’t want to look weak so will bottle it up’ face.”

“You can tell all of that from my face?” I asked in disbelief.

“Told ya’ – spy senses” he laughed.

“Well you need to get them checked out because I’m completely fine.” I lied. 

Bucky looked at me like he didn’t believe a word I was saying but thankfully decided to not push it. “What did Fury want?”

“Want’s me to apologise to Steve for breaking his jaw and wants me to work with them again.”

“What do you want?”

“To break the other side of his jaw” I joked, and it earned a laugh from Bucky which made me feel slightly better about the situation. 

“Are you going to join us?”

“Unfortunately,” I sighed, “besides, someone needs to watch your six o’clock” I winked before walking over to the kitchen area for coffee. 

“I think you’re the one who need someone watching your six.”

“Ye because of Captain Perfect’s shit plans. It’s like he wants me injured.” I sighed as I watched my mug fill.

“So nothing to do with your ego and wanting to prove him wrong all of the time?” Bucky asked and I could tell from his tone that he was joking. Despite it being a joke, I had to force my laugh because his words were feeding the vampire inside that was sucking the life out of me. 

“I plead the fifth” I said with a small smile. 

“As much as I can’t stand them, it would be good having you with me.” He told me. “I would finally feel like I had someone I could trust.”

“Despite them not knowing about us?”

“Especially because they don’t know about us!” Bucky said. “If Steve knew about us, he would probably do something to you and then I would have to kill him.”

“Then I would be forced to break you out of prison,” I said with a smile. 

“And I don’t think either of us could last on the run for too long, I’ve got used to having a sugar daddy,” he said, sealing the joke with a wink.

“Does that mean you’re gonna give me sugar?” I teased.

“Come over here, it’s waiting for you doll” he replied while gesturing to the front of his pants.

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at him as a laugh escaped. “I have work to do, not all of us can lay around like trophy wives” I threw over my shoulder as I made my way out of the room. 

“You love me being your trophy wife” I heard Bucky shout before the doors closed.


	2. Chapter 2

I felt myself being dragged from under the car that I was just fixing and instead of looking at the underneath of my car, I was now looking up at Bucky who did not look impressed.

“I’m working,” I huffed. I went to pull myself back under but was stopped by a foot being hooked around my ankle and pulling me in the opposite direction. Sensing defeat I got to my feet and used an already dirty cloth to wipe some of the grease off my hands.

“No, you are killing yourself.”

“Bit dramatic.”

“You’ve been down here for ten hours,” Bucky said with a raised eyebrow and crossed arms.

“I have no-” I started to say before being interrupted by FRIDAY.

“You’ve been here for ten hours, 35 minutes and 10 seconds.” FRI unhelpfully said.

Knowing better than argue with them I let Bucky lead me out of the workshop and up to the penthouse. Thankfully FRI made sure we didn’t bump into any of the others as we travelled up. It was only when I got out of my workshop that my tiredness started to hit me. 

“You know I don’t need as much sleep now.”

“I know and I wouldn’t have a problem if you had only been working for the past ten hours but you have been awake for the past two days working without rest.”

“Fine! You win!” I huffed. “I will go straight to bed and be a good boy.”

“Good.” I heard Bucky say from the doorway to our bedroom. Without looking at him I flopped down on the bed and allowed sleep to pull me under. 

 

-x-x-x-x-

 

When I woke up six hours later, it was to an empty bed and a note that said Bucky had been called out on Avenger business. Based on the fact I hadn’t received a call from Fury, I knew that whatever they were dealing with didn’t require my help, but that didn’t stop me worrying about Bucky. I knew Steve would never let anything happen to him, but I didn’t trust Wanda.

Wanda never apologised for what she did to us, instead it was me having to grovel for Ultron despite her putting the thoughts in my head. However, she was once Hydra, so maybe she would love Bucky, and see him as a brother in arms, but that would mean nothing to her if she knew the truth though. She would probably to love to kill the one person that I loved; it would give her more ammo. Bucky would need to make sure she stayed firmly out of his head. 

“FRI, status report.” I said as I swung myself out of bed and made my way to the shower. 

“No casualties, Sergeant Barnes is assisting with clean up.” FRIDAY told me immediately. 

“Ah, did I miss all the action?” I whined. 

“That’s what happens when you sleep on the job,” she quipped back.

“Weren’t you the one who told me to sleep?” I accused. 

“I’m sorry I don’t understand, maybe there is a problem with my coding.” She replied in a more automated voice than she normally used. 

“Why did I think it was a good idea to make you sentient?” 

“Want me to schedule you some time to think that one over?”

“Sure.” 

“Scheduled for 20th May 20-never.” She responded and I could have sworn I heard the laugh in her voice.

“It is too early for this much sass,” I huffed as I stepped into the shower and washed off all the dirt and grease that had built up.

Once I was finished and dressed, I padded over to my landing platform on my outdoor terrace. “If he comes back before me tell bubble butt that I’ve gone for a spin.” I said as I stepped off the platform and so, off the building.

I suddenly heard repulsers on either side of me. As I looked to my left and right, I saw two of my Iron Man suits keeping pace, ready to latch on if I needed them.

“Ah, you worried?” I asked FRI, using Extremis to communicate with her. 

She didn’t respond verbally, but I could feel her worry through our connection. The fact that a piece of code was able to be so human constantly fascinated me. I could happily spend hours working on her coding to make her as human as possible. 

I let myself remain in freefall for a few more seconds before finally calling my suit from within myself. The second I was completely enclosed in my suit, I blasted the repulsers and shot up towards the sky. The higher I climbed, the freer I felt. Being up there made me appreciate why Icarus got that close to the sun. This far up put the wold down there into perspective. It allowed a freedom that being on the ground just didn’t allow. 

The second I was in my own suit, two back-up suits peeled away and returned to the tower. At the same time, I could feel the worry from FRI decrease until it eventually stopped. 

“I wish you would have more regard for your safety.” I heard FRI eventually say. She sounded like a child berating their elderly parent who had tried doing a superman on a BMX. 

“I knew you cared.” I joked.

“Seeing as my primary function is to ensure your wellbeing, I thought ‘caring’ would be implied.” FRI snapped. I could almost visualise her crossing her arms at me.

“I’m sorry.” I said honestly. Having FRIDAY upset was how I imagined parents felt when they saw their children crying. It was a feeling I didn’t like, and it was also really killing my buzz. 

“You just want me to say I am fine so that you can enjoy your flight,” she replied drily. 

“Are you sure you can’t read my mind?”

“Thankfully I can’t.”

“There’s my sassy girl,” I laughed as I started to do manoeuvres in the sky.

Taking her silence as permission to continue with my flight, I started to fly over New York and take in how peaceful everything looked from up here. There was a part of me that was always sobered up when I considered the people below. They were so tiny and vulnerable; it was no wonder Earth was such an easy target. However, I didn’t allow myself to think about that aspect of humanity for too long. Instead, I just let myself enjoy the alone time and allowed my mind to clear as I flew.

“Incoming call from Director Fury.” FRIDAY said, suddenly. If I had been on the ground, I would have jumped but seeing as I wasn’t, it was something I would never admit. 

“Let it go to voicemail, he needs some humbling.” I said as I did a perfect corkscrew and awarded myself ten points because I could. 

“I’ve been monitoring the Avengers; I think you should take this.” FRI said.

“Put him through.” I told her, already imagining the worst-case scenario. I wanted to use Extremis to access the cameras that FRIDAY was watching but I couldn’t. Using Extremis for that would shut me down, and I wouldn’t be able to fly, let alone talk to Fury. 

The second the call connected, my mouth worked before my brain and I asked, “what can I do for you pop-eye?” 

“You’re needed.”


	3. Chapter 3

I flew to the where the Avengers were currently fighting in record time. Fury had told me that they had everything under control until the dead aliens suddenly rose and started to spill from a newly formed portal. From where I was hovering, I could see but not hear Rogers giving orders. He seemed to be pointing his orders and I immediately asked FRI to tune my comms to their channel.

“Vision, pull back and assist Bucky.” Rogers shouted through the comms. I watched as Rogers used the shield to fight off and then kill an alien.

Once I did a quick a scan, I made my presence known by blasting an alien that was about to get the jump on Rogers.

“Really should watch your back,” I told him as I continued to shoot the creatures on the ground.

“Why? To avoid people stabbing me in it?” He snarked back.

Losing my temper, I accidently, on purpose, aimed a blast too close to him that resulted in him being knocked off his feet. “Oops, my bad.” I lied.

“Can we focus please?” Bucky said through the line, “plus, stop being a punk Steve, Tony hasn’t stabbed anyone in the back so just focus.”

“See, even the amnesiac killer can see facts, yet capsicule can’t.” Rhodey muttered on a private line with me.

“Don’t antagonise him.” Bucky seemed to plead on a private channel to me, “if he says something wrong, I’m going to have to kill him.”

“You say the sweetest things.” I responded.

“Tony, assist Natasha,” Steve barked down the group line.

I looked and saw that she was struggling so I begrudgingly followed his orders. It didn’t take much help from me before Natasha was able to get her footing again and the odds started to shift so that we had the upper hand. When I was sure she was fine on her own, I quickly flew over the area and continued to blast the aliens. It didn’t take me long to notice that Rogers’ plan wasn’t going to work for long. He had split the team in a way that left two areas open and meant the aliens had the opportunity to escape the team while more came through the portal. This plan was like trying to fill a bucket with a hole in it. 

“What’s the ETA on magic fingers?” I asked.

“Should be here in ten minutes. Apparently, he is dealing with another matter, so we just need to contain until he arrives.” Rhodey said.

“If we need to contain these lot until Strange comes, we need a new plan.” I told the Rogues while trying to block one of the two open areas Rogers seemed to be ignoring. 

“We have a plan.” Rogers huffed back.

“And look how well it is working,” I said.

“Just follow orders and my plan will work just fine.” Rogers replied, he sounded as if he were speaking through gritted teeth. 

“We need to have people covering Cresent Street as well as the area I’m in. No one is stopping them and so they’re growing in numbers.”

“This is why you don’t work well in a team; you can’t even follow my simple order.” Those words automatically raised my heckles. 

“Maybe because your orders will lead to casualties. How can you not see that?” I snapped down the line while blasting one of the aliens that had managed to get a little too close to me. 

“Do. As. I. Say!” Rogers barked back.

“Get your head out of your arse and look at your team.” I told him. 

From where I was in the sky, I could see Rogers looking at the struggle the rest of the team were having. There was no way they would be able to last until Strange got here, not if the alien numbers kept growing at this rate. Natasha was struggling again and currently fighting back to back with Bucky who had long since abandoned his post in favour of helping her. Wanda and Vision were the only two who seemed to not be completely losing. Hawkeye had a hoard of aliens climbing the building he was currently stationed at and would soon need a helping hand to move. Bottom line – we were fucked.

“Do you just not want to listen to my plan because it is mine or because you genuinely believe yours will work?” I asked him.

“I’m not listening because I am the Captain and you’re not even part of this team.”

“Stop.” Bucky suddenly barked down the line. I wasn’t sure who he was talking to, me or Rogers.

“Finally, some sense.” Captain Sparkles sighed. “Stick with my plan and shut up.”

In anger I blasted a few more aliens and made a point of ignoring Bucky’s request for a private comm. I was fuming at everyone, including Bucky. I knew he agreed with me about this plan, anyone with a brain would know this plan was going to lead to disaster. 

“I’m with Tony on this one.” Rhodey said to the rest of the team. “And if you make another dig about him, I will put Captain America on his fucking arse.” He added and the spluttering coming from Rogers made me grin. As I continued to fight the aliens, I instructed FRI to study them and tell me of any weaknesses they might have.

A scream could be heard down the road that we weren’t covering, and I quickly flew towards the sound. When I turned the corner, I saw a woman clutching a baby to her chest and a toddler by her legs. Her back was plastered against a wall and she was screaming as the aliens got closer to her. As fast as the suit would go, I flew towards where she was cornered and landed in front of her, creating a barrier between her and them. 

“Just FYI, I’m currently helping a woman and her baby because this plan is shit and they nearly died.” I told the rest of the group and I was fighting to keep the growing hoard back.

I knew for a fact that I wouldn’t be able to keep this up for much longer. There were too many of them for me to be able to kill them all quickly enough to keep the woman and her children safe.

“Sir, they seem to be following a high frequency noise that is likely to be their leader.” FRI suddenly told me.

“Likelihood of them mistaking me for their leader if I emitted the same frequency?” I asked.

“80% Sir. Although I would strongly advise against this, as the chances of them realising you are not their leader and then killing you is 90%.” FRI answered. 

“I’m going to trick these aliens into thinking I’m their leader and then lead them away. Once Strange arrives, I can lead them into a new portal, and he can close them both.” I managed to tell the rest of the Rogues as I tried my best to protect the mother behind me.

“That sounds suspiciously like a one-way trip.” I heard Rhodey say.

“Sir, you can’t do this!” FRI told me; I could tell from her voice that she was worried about me.

“I’ve worked out the odds and they are in my favour.” I lied; truth was that I hadn’t bothered to check the odds because I knew I would succeed. I had to succeed. 

“They are not in our favour.” FRI said, “in fact, they are 90% against you, but you already knew that.”

“You’re a coward, you really expect us to trust you would follow through with your plan.” Scarlet Bitch sneered, her voice interrupting FRI’s own worried rambles to me.

“Well good thing I’m a confident coward.” I snapped. 

“If I hear one more comment like that, these aliens will be the least of your concern.” Another voice said. By the tone and faint accent, it sounded like Bucky was losing his temper and Winter was beginning to slip through.

“We already have a plan.” Rogers tried.

“Just admit this plan sucks.” Bucky said, and if I was in front of Rogers, I would have stuck my tongue out at him because Bucky was backing me over him – again. 

“I am the Cap-”

“-I don’t care.” I cut him off abruptly. “You’re not a hero, so stop acting like one. I’m in charge now, anyone got a problem with that?” I told them; I didn’t expect a response from them because they knew they were royally fucked. “Good.”

I sent a controlled blast to the aliens surrounding us and used the distraction to change the frequency of my suit and emit the same level they were following. Almost immediately, the ones who survived the blast stood to attention, as if waiting for my orders. I couldn’t help but smile as the first stage of my plan fell into place. I quickly directed the mother and her children to safety and was able to breathe a little easier once I knew they were going to be ok. 

“Showtime.” I told the team as I once again took to the sky and watched as all the aliens began to follow me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally able to post this update, I hope you enjoyed it!

**Author's Note:**

> So I have a lot of ideas for the adventures that will happen in this universe I am creating and 90% of the ideas have been inspired by music. It may take me some time to get them all written out so please be patient an I hope you enjoy your stay in this non-Thanos AU :)


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